The Puppeteer and Terpsichore
by HaruhismFollower
Summary: Every artist needs a muse, someone who can give him the inspiration to continue their work. When Uraraka helps an old man in a park, she doesn't think much about it. Since then she gets odd looks every now and then, as if she's doing or saying unusual things. It almost feels like she's a passenger in her own body.
1. Beeswax and paper

Marionettes were usually depicted as wooden dolls of erratic movements due to their simple joints. Their faces were often static, with warped smiles and almond shaped eyes that were unnatural to normal people. This was all caused by the material used. Wood couldn't bend as hand puppets made of cloth, giving them an inhuman feel. For that reason, it was the job of a marionettist to mask that trait, giving them the fluidity to counterattack that vegetative state. But a _great_ marionettist could go beyond that, making them reassemble real humans. Make them move like humans, feel like humans and be like one.

That's what an old, decrepit old man thought as his empty eyes gaze at his study full of dolls and marionettes . It had been years since he was able to get good material for a proper puppet. None of them had any soul. Even if they were material masterpieces, what was the point if they still acted as chunks of wood which didn't resemble people?

The old man rose from his chair and left the study. His eyes groggily moved around the small house before climbing down the stairs and heading to the kitchen.

Water. He just needed water, to let it clear up his mind.

But as the liquid travelled down his throat, nothing changed. Thirst left his mind. Now the only thoughts on his mind were those filled with worry. His hand trembled as he held the empty glass, reminding him that his illness would only get worse with time. Essential tremor would mark the end of his career. How much did he have left? A year? Less than that? How could it end before he was able to end his magnum opus?

The house creaked as it got warmer with the sunlight, making him come back to his senses.

"I just need inspiration. Once I create a puppet… the puppet, I'll make it up to her." The man steadied himself, grabbed his sketchbook and walking stick before heading out.

The residential streets didn't have many people around, much less in the late noon. Even then, it allowed for a diverse amount of people to walk through them, from kids to elders like himself. That was true for the first few times. After twenty years walking the same streets, he didn't see the same diversity. The kids grew and gained different traits. That was true. But they still had the same imperfections he didn't want in a puppet.

For a few hours until sunset, the sound of his cane reverberated through his arm until he grew tired. After following that routine so much, the man knew that he got tired around the same time he reached a small park. Everyday he got tired a bit sooner.

He sat down on a nearby bench to catch a breath and rest.

A few minutes later, he started to take in as much information as he could. Everyone he gazed upon wasn't enough. Too young or old. Too tall or short. Too thin or overweight. But he couldn't blame them, he himself wasn't even sure if what he was searching for.

As he thought this, he started sketching people in the park, carefully trying to appear inconspicuous. They all missed the traits needed for his life's work but perhaps he could remove all the unnecessary parts. But it was to no avail. Like his routine, no matter the different route he tried to take, he always ended up at that park.

"Another wasted day? I don't think I'll be able to keep this up." He thought.

After failing to sketch most of the people that were idle, he switched to the people passing through the park.

It didn't go any more different, except that he was on a time trial now. It didn't take more than a minute to pass through the small park. Couples or groups of people were more challenging, but it depended on the type. Couples walked slower, making them easier to sketch. Groups moved at different speeds, sometimes blocking the view of some, so it was a matter of identifying who was worth the sketch.

The old man readied as one pair entered the park. They looked young, not yet adults, not quite teenagers. They probably had around 16 or 17 years. Maybe a bit less. They were carrying some plastic bags, too full to be just food. But that didn't matter.

He focused on the boy first.

The boy had some good traits. A firm pose and toned legs. But his arms looked too ragged, it looked like he didn't fix his greenish hair since he had woken up and his shoes didn't match his face. He sketched his face for a few seconds, before giving up and drawing his arms.

His hands didn't like what they were drawing. Sure, those scars told a story, but it didn't match the rest of his attitude. Sighing, the man tore off the paper and focused on his partner.

With only a glance he already feared his chances. She was a somewhat short girl,with generic eye and hair colour and a childish round face. Clearly there was no need to continue sketching her. Yet his hands continued. The pencil kept going on wider arches and tilts. He kept gazing upon more things he didn't like. Why was he continuing? He didn't want a puppet with so many issues. But perhaps, on a whole, those imperfections complimented each other.

He trusted his skills. But more importantly, he trusted his hands. If they thought the drawing should continue, it would.

The sketch slowly went on to cover most of the paper, with lines that creeped on the border of the journal and others that disappeared out of it. With time, the sketch started to be lost inside the noise of erratic lines that served no purpose.

With his left hand, he stopped his opposite. And then his pencil fell down.

"_I can't believe it._" The old man's mind raced to comprehend what had transpired. His heart was pumping with the vigour of a youngster.

He had done it. He had the perfect sketch. The first step was down.

Hastily, with his hands trembling with fear and excitement, he closed his notebook and gathered his tools. A sudden gust of wind made the discarded pile of papers fly away to a nearby tree, but they weren't even on his mind as he grabbed a hold of his cane.

"Careful!" A girl's shout made him stop in his tracks. "Your papers went flying!"

The same girl that gave him inspiration was trying to save his failed projects from being lost.

"...Don't worry, young girl. They're of no use to me." He tried to repay in kindness what she had done to him.

"Oh." She looked like she was stopped by an invisible wall.

The young man that accompanied her soon caught up. "Well, even if you don't want them, littering the park is no good. We can still pick them up and throw them to the garbage bin."

"That's right!" The girl lit up as he handed over the bags she was holding. "Hold them for a while, okay Deku? I'll be mad if you don't hand them back."

The boy answered with a brief embarrassed laugh.

"You are right, I'll dispose of them." The elderly man answered.

She nodded determined as her hands touched each other for a brief moment, and she floated up to the tree. She gathered the papers that were closest to her before gently floating down with a slight push from her hands.

The old man looked at every one of her movements with caution. He was fearful that he would find something horrible about her the more time he spent watching her. But her quirk dashed those fears. He knew that this was it. She was perfect.

"That's a fine quirk you have." He mentioned as he grabbed the papers she was handing over.

"O-Oh, thanks! As long as it helps people, I'm happy with it." She waved off the praise as she approached the boy, Deku, again.

"Those drawings… they look nice. Are you sure you want to dump them?" The boy said, eyeing him carefully.

"I already have enough on my house. Thanks for the help." The old man quickly excused himself as he headed out of the park in the opposite direction of the couple. He heard the girl saying goodbye and as soon as he was out of their sight, he dumped the papers in a trash can.

The boy had observed him too intently. Did he perhaps recognise him? It didn't matter. His mind was already on another place. He didn't even realise that he had dumped the cane in the trash as well and that his legs were on full sprint, being fueled by ambition and excitement.

A mix of laughter and panting was the only thing that he could blurt out at the moment. He hadn't ran in years. He hadn't laughed in years. He couldn't believe what was happening, his mind only being comforted by the sketch he gripped on his hands.

Reaching his house, he barely stopped to find his keys and kicked the door down. His right leg was now limping, but he made his way up to his study. He had the perfect oak tree cut down years ago, it was properly and naturally seasoned. Beeswax was present but unneeded. You only needed beeswax to fill up mistakes. There would be no mistakes.

Just before he sat down on his working chair, leaving the sketch in front of him, he stopped and thought. "I need to tell her."

He hobbled through the upper hallway and reached the end of the corridor. He knocked three times before saying pressing himself against the door.

"I have great news. I have it. I finally have it." His tone was low, almost negligible.

There wasn't any kind of answer from behind the door.

"My leg? It's alright, I just had an issue opening the door."

The only sound of the house was the creaking of the broken front door.

For twenty minutes, he explained the details of the would be a puppet. He talked about her measures, the colour of her skin, eyes, hair… About how she had a compassionate personality, full of energy yet contained, with a power that made her float. About how everything would be natural, donated directly from his muse, from the hair to the nails including the teeth.

His face could barely contain the tears of excitement and happiness as he listened for what was not there.

"I haven't heard you so happy before… Yes, the play will begin as soon as I finish her. I can't tell you all the details about her yet, be patient."

The man headed back to his studio and closed it tight. Nothing would stop from making her happy. Nobody would. Not now that All Might wasn't there to stop him.


	2. Head and Mind Mind and Brain

With the winter solstice's date nearing, the days were becoming shorter and shorter, making the night reign triumphant even sooner than usual. However, with Christmas was right around the corner and while it wasn't such a big moment in Japan, any reason to throw up a party was as good as any.

But that wasn't what she had in mind.

Idle conversations, random topics, anything that could be used to not think much about the situation. She didn't have any problems socialising with others, but her mind kept reminding her of the feelings she had for him. Sometimes she could handle them, other times they went wild. Luckily today wasn't one of those days.

She answered once again one of Deku's questions. She couldn't help but wonder if he was nervous as well. She knew that he had been tangled up on one of Ashido's schemes to put them together. He seemed to be taking it rather well, if that was the case. Or that's what she thought.

After talking about how her arms were ready to give up on carrying the endless goods they had to buy, they spotted further away some students running near the dorms, with some other straggling behind. They didn't know what had happened but they looked oddly serious.

Whatever was happening, the dull pain of a headache suddenly made its presence. She hadn't used her quirk that much, and her stomach didn't feel bad at all. Whatever was happening to her stomach or whatever they were doing, she could ask later on.

The wave of warm air that crashed against her as she entered the building stopped her breath for half a second. The sudden change of temperature didn't help her newfound condition at all. Her legs trembled in protest, suddenly feeling weak.

A few moments later, she left her cargo on top of the lounge table and quickly dismissed any concerns some friends had about her drop in enthusiasm.

Her steps were quiet as she climbed up the staircase towards her room. That should have been the only noise she could be hearing, besides the chatter a few floors down and the racketting of the wind against the windows. But there was something else in the back of her head. Not a sound or a wave. It could only be compared to the uneasiness felt by the sound of nails scratching against slate.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she increased her pace until she reached her room a few moments later.

Her room was dark, with the only scarce light source being blocked by the curtain.

She leaned against her door and let her legs give up to her weight. Her headache was getting even worse. The heat was agonising. And her desire to sleep was even worse.

"_Shouldn't I go to the nurse…?_" That thought made sense. In fact it was the most sensible thing to do. The sudden queasiness and malaise wasn't exactly normal. But that reflection was replaced by the more unhealthy logic of sleeping it off.

Slowly regaining strength in her legs, she removed all her outerwear and put on some more comfortable inside clothing. Afterwards she dragged herself into her cold bed.

"_I feel like I could sleep for a whole day. But I should wake up before dinner..._" With that in mind, she put an alarm in her phone and felt her consciousness disappear for the day.

* * *

A handmade workbench was filled with technical drawings and shavings of the would-be puppet. Getting the right proportions for a puppet was a more troublesome job than it seemed, but he was able to finish it rather quickly. The old man had decided for a standard design, with the head of the puppet being around one fifth of the body. A fairly normal canon.

Before the sun was down, he had already started chiseling the main features of the head, and by midnight he had started to focus on smaller details, switching to a smaller chisel.

He almost had made a mistake with the nose. The mallet hit the wrong side of the chisel, and too much wood had been shaved. But it wasn't a mistake. He quickly realised that his hand had stopped short. Luckily, he thought.

"It's a good thing you fell asleep, it would be somewhat uncomfortable for you otherwise." The man mentioned while putting down his tools. "I must say, you've been doing good. Most people aren't that easy to carve. The first few moments are always odd, without any sight or hearing to help me create a solid base."

He removed some shavings from the head of the puppet, and admired his work. The head was properly done, with its most basic features in place. The outline of the eyes was there but nothing filling its features. There was no mouth and ears weren't finished, but he couldn't rush it.

"Tomorrow I'll finish your eyes. I want to see where you are. That reminds me… I never got your name, did I?" His voice was mellow, as if he was teaching a kid to tie their shoes. "I'll have to fix that soon, before the play begins."

"I'll call you Muse in the meantime. You helped me a lot, it wouldn't be fair to upset you… I can't rush you. Although my daughter wants you to be as perfect as possible. And so do I as well."

The man looked at the clock on the wall. 9 P.M.

"I should rest. I need my head clear for this." He muttered as he finally arranged his tools. The sketch of the girl had been barely touched since then, but he remembered perfectly. He couldn't forget.

Limping his way out, he passed through the staircase before noticing that he had left the door open. That would be troublesome, who broke his door in the first place? Did he do it? The pain that lingered in his leg made him realise that he did.

He slowly went down the stairs and grabbed a chair from the kitchen. He would need to block the door somehow, even on this peaceful neighbourhood. Unwanted visitors checking his work was troublesome.

Before he could do that, however, he noticed somebody entering his front yard. He quickly stepped out to intercept them. The old man saw a young policeman, no older than 30, being slightly surprised at his sudden appearance. Behind him, in the front gate, there was a more extravagant dressed man who was probably a pro-hero.

"Oh, Arata?" The elderly man said, noticing who it was. "What a surprise, how are you doing?"

He leaned in for a handshake that the officer promptly took.

"Going well, Tanaka. You know, just trying to get some money into the household. Oh, before I forget! My dad wishes you a happy holiday."

"Same to him. I heard he was hospitalised, did he receive my gift?"

"Oh yeah, it wasn't anything too serious. But yeah, you know he loves your craftwork. Reminds him of the old times and… Sorry, I'm on duty, let's just get this over with."

The old man glanced at the pro hero behind the officer, only noticeable by the streetlamps outside his property. "To what do I owe your visit?"

"Not much, standard procedure after some recent events." The officer pointed at the hero before whispering. "They're very paranoid after what happened at Kamino."

"I see. So that's what this about... Well, I'm not going out of retirement if that's what you're after. My hero days are over."

"No, no. Although a return of someone like you would raise morale, we just want to make some questions. Don't worry, it won't take long." The officer pulled a notebook as he adopted an upright posture and started to ask questions. "Mr. Tanaka, it seems you came home rather agitated a few hours ago. Does the state of your front door have anything to do with it?"

Tanaka's eyes wandered off before answering. "I lost my keys and I couldn't think of any other way of opening it."

"No back-up keys?"

"None whatsoever. Nowadays I'm a carpenter, like you know, so even if I broke the door I can fix it rather quickly."

"Very well." He wrote down some notes. "We got some calls from your neighbours, so we wanted to make sure. What was the urgency to run back to your home?"

The officer's accurate information made the old man even more uncomfortable. As far as he knew the only neighbours here weren't the kind to call the was something else at play here.

"...I forgot my daughter's medicine, I have to take care of her at all times. My memory isn't what it used to be."

"Your daughter.. Ah, her illness was what forced you into retirement, if I'm correct?"

"That would be true."

"I see. Hopefully she's doing alright." The officer glanced back at the pro-hero. "My friend here also has some questions for you, but he doesn't have the jurisdiction to ask. Tell me, did you interact with anybody before your rush home?"

Tanaka stopped his right hand from acting on its own and tried to control his breathing. The tentative glance of the hero meant trouble. This was the reason they came here.

"I did. A young lass helped me gather some papers that flew off." He looked at the hero in the back before continuing. "She reminded me of my girl. I spaced out since she made me realise my oversight, which led me to drop those papers. I must have lost my keys there too, I'm not sure."

The officer looked back at the hero for confirmation, and he replied with a nod.

"What have you been doing since then?"

"Continuing my hobby, taking care of my family… Nothing much to be honest, I'm retired after all." Tanaka's voice almost choked on those last words.

"I see, I understand… That's all we wanted." The policeman closed his notebook and relaxed his posture. "Sorry for the formalities but a job is a job."

"I'm not thrilled about it but I get it. What's all this about anyways? I simply interacted with a young lass, it's not like I tried to abduct her."

The policeman stood silently for a moment, thinking of his next step. Before the silence became awkward, he explained it.

"I'll tell you, but only because you've helped my family a lot as a hero. You that you stumbled across somebody you shouldn't have and acted suspiciously, or that's how it's been described. However I see no ill intent here. Especially from someone such as yourself." The hero in the back coughed in response, as if the policeman had said too much. "I'm more surprised you didn't recognise her, but you were never a sports guy, were you?"

The old man did his best to not react at his words. Her build did look very healthy for her age, perhaps she did do some kind of sport like his friend here was saying.

Was she a celebrity of some kind? Did she act to keep up appearances or out of heart? Perhaps that friend of hers was also part of it? Questions about her personality suddenly popped into his mind.

But he couldn't ask that without raising suspicion. Even if he knew the officer, asking questions about someone who was the reason for the police and heroes to come to question him was just searching for trouble. He would have to wait it out or find the information somewhere else.

"I wasn't and I'm not. Anyways, if that's all you need…?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. Have a nice day. And your daughter too." The policeman turned around and started talking to the hero as they walked away.

Tanaka stood around silently for a moment before rushing back to his workshop.

He wasn't satisfied with just the head.

He wasn't satisfied with knowing what was on her mind.

He had to finish the eyes and find out where she was at.


	3. Windows of the Soul

Her eyes groggily opened as the morning sun flooded her room. There was a brief moment of confusion as it dawned on her that she had fallen completely asleep yesterday. Feeling her body rested but heavy, she took her time to get up from bed and glanced at the sunlight coming through her window. It looked oddly beautiful.

She slowly fetched her phone, and browsed her alarms. They were all turned off. Perhaps she simply was too sleepy to remember deactivating them.

Blinking a few times, she noticed the time. She had less than 15 minutes to have breakfast and go to class. That wasn't good.

Freaking out, she started to look for her school uniform. However, it was to no avail, as there was not enough light to find them. Frustrated by the fact, she abruptly pushed the curtains open.

Her sight was blinded by the sudden change of brightness.

And then her eyes focused.

It was like the first time she had observed the surrounding area. Most trees had lost their orange leaves, only to leave the bark lightly covered in frost. The sun, even though it was shining at full force, was not strong enough to melt it down. Its rays bounced off the icy surfaces and glittered every now and then.

She rubbed her eyes and looked out again. They felt really perceptive this morning. But there wasn't any time for that.

The school uniform was neatly folded on top of her desk chair. There wasn't any hesitation as she quickly undressed, not without having the usual troubles of doing things hastily, and put on her uniform.

With a bit of skill with her hands, she touched her school bag with her five fingers and pushed it to the entrance of her room. As it was floating away, she entered her personal bathroom.

Her eyes lingered for a moment on the glass, as if confirming that she was still on her own body, before brushing her bed hair. It took longer than she wanted, and the tearing out of some hair, but she finished it in record time. There was no way she could have breakfast and reach class in time, so she brushed her teeth as well.

She checked her phone. Less than 10 minutes

Before heading out, a sudden intrusive thought made its way into her mind. Jumping off the window could save her a lot of time. With her quirk,there was barely any consequence.

Altered by the lack of time, she didn't think twice about it. Grabbing everything she needed, she opened the window and stepped out to the small balcony. For some reason, she had forgotten her room was on the fourth floor. But it was too late to back down. Making herself weightless, she slowly floated down thanks to the weight of her clothes and shoes, and ran towards the school building.

Her eyes wandered off into the surroundings, but she stopped them. Reaching class in time was the only objective there was at the moment. And as the U.A. building appeared in frame, her breathing finally calmed down.

With one final sprint, she almost crashed into the class door.

Her schoolmates greeted and questioned her whereabouts, but she didn't have time to answer as the teacher entered the room.

Ectoplasm wasn't exactly the best lecturer of U.A., but at the very least he explained things when you had any questions. Something her middle school math teachers didn't do. Perhaps that's why maths wasn't exactly her strongest subject. However, he had a downside. He was very intimidating and you couldn't tell what he was thinking. Was he judging you? Praising you? Who knew!

So when Ectoplasm pointed at her to solve a complex math problem, she jumped in her seat. She wasn't paying attention, perhaps he realised that.

Slowly rising from her seat, she headed to the chalkboard. With a mere glance, she mentally accepted her failure. There were too little numbers and too many letters on that impossible task.

A nervous wreck, she picked up the chalk Ectoplasm offered her, and breathed in. She only had to try and fail. There wasn't anything wrong with that. Failing is part of life, a part of learning. Would Einstein have stopped when he found a roadblock? No! So what if she wasn't paying attention? She could learn from her mistakes, and not repeat them. That's what she had to do. Just admit she was daydreaming, and be done with this.

With a resigned sigh, she put down the chalk. And stared dumbfounded at the completed math problem. When did she do that?

Ectoplasm inspected the task for a few seconds before nodding and commending her with his completely neutral voice.

Uraraka stood there for a few more seconds, wide-eyed and confused. Perhaps for the normal outlooker there wasn't anything wrong with it. But she knew.

That wasn't her handwriting.

* * *

Tanaka stood silently as he stared at the eyes of the puppet. The windows of the soul. They were perfect. He knew they were.

"My body may be failing, but my mind is still sharp as a tack." He let out a contained laugh before sulking down.

His fingers travelled the cheek of the puppet, up and down. Wondering. Questioning himself. The puppet was evolving perfectly. He couldn't contain himself and had tested how the head would look on a test body. He even had foolishly tested if his quirk was still as quick as his mind.

But all the progress was overshadowed by a simple fact.

"U.A. highschool. That isn't good at all." He muttered as he gently put down his tools. "So my Muse is someone remarkable in the end. I should have known, no random schoolgirl could be so inspiring. But…"

He controlled his breath and tried to control the frustration that was corrupting his thoughts.

"How am I supposed to get… anything?"

Hair, nails, skin… just how? A normal girl disappearing would be arrangeable. He had thought of several courses of action, but now they were all implausible.

It was very troublesome. He now understood why a hero showed up yesterday along with a cop. U.A. highschool. He had seen how she entered that building. They probably were monitoring all students too. Worst of all, she was residing there, in the heart of the facilities.

"Calm down. It's my masterpiece. I knew it wasn't going to be easy." He told himself, as if trying to reassure himself.

Snooping around so soon after the heroes had turned up in his household could be very troublesome. He didn't want to damage his retired hero reputation. And he would need everything if he wanted this to continue. Connections, money, information. He had to tread carefully, like in his youth.

With that in mind, he headed out his workshop and looked to his left. She was there, behind the last door of the corridor. This was all for her. Giving up wasn't an option. Not with his daughter and not with his Muse. He couldn't give into despair yet.

The problem was that he was thinking too much into the future. He hadn't even finished the face! Right now, he should focus on what was important. The girl's name, and more info about her in general.

He would do everything he could before using the nuclear option.

Wandering out of his broken front door, he entered the small front yard of his neighbour. The morning sun was chilly, but that didn't stop him from feeling pumped.

He knocked a few times to no avail. Half a minute later,a lanky middle aged man with long black hair opened the door. He stood behind the wooden door, as if reluctant to speak.

"Not going to greet an old friend?" Tanaka said as he hid his hands behind his back.

"What do you want?" The man answered back, hesitant.

"I just need an old debt paid back, for old time's sake." The man quickly tried to close down his door, but Tanaka's feet got in the way. "Getting angry is bad for the heart, so please, don't make me mad."

"Come on, come on! We're retired, right? The fact we're on this peaceful neighbourhood was for… to escape that world!" The slim man staggered back into his house, as Tanaka stood in the doorframe.

"I'm not going back. And you're not going back either." The puppeteer replied with a soft tone. "I'm here for something else. Remember that bank heist, the one where we captured Stonebreaker?"

"I remember not sleeping for two days." The long haired man mentioned as he calmed down. "He knew that he was being monitored, so it was hard to gather intel on him. Turns out, he was playing decoy until the last second."

"And he killed two hostages, not my best job." Tanaka followed. "But you were at your best. We even knew that he had been suffering from kidney stones, something he didn't even know. I need you to do the same. I want to know everything about a young girl."

"Listen, Boss…"

"U.A. student, around 16 or 17 years. Seems to be hiding her accent, but I can't tell yet. She was in the U.A. school festival, not sure if she ended up in an honorable place. I don't have a name yet, I'll give it to you tomorrow."

"But I'm telling you that…"

"I want you to prepare. Tomorrow, when I come here, I want you to be ready to use your quirk just like with Stonebreaker. Be ready for everything. And I can't stress this enough, do not alert their security. I trust in your skills."

The middle aged man seemed ready to speak against his words. But stopped short of answering. Whatever Tanaka said was already set in stone.

"I'll do it, but only if you promise that the debt will be null and void after this."

"Of course, you have my word. You're a good man, Rummager."

"Don't call me that. And… please, tell me I'm not being an accomplice in a murder."

Tanaka glanced at the man before walking out the yard, with a determined glare in his eyes. He only needed to finish the mouth and ears for today. And from there onwards, everything would sail smoothly. Otherwise things would get hairy.


	4. Five Wits

The blackboard was filled with English phrases. The math exercise was long gone. But not from her head.

Summation followed the distributive property.

Her book was doodled with those words, followed by an example. She didn't quite understand how she had been able to finish that exercise. In hindsight it looked quite simple. However, she didn't even remember moving her hands to do that. She made a ton of wild guesses, but not a single one of them made sense.

With her mind busy making up theories, the Muse was daydreaming once again. She heard the lectures but wasn't listening. The only sound her hearing picked up was the low hum of her ringing ears. It was annoying, yet fading away.

There was a sudden drop in tension in class. It only took her a few moments to realize that the English lecture was finished. With that, the young man in front of her turned around with a stern but soft expression.

"It is not typical for you to arrive so late to our morning classes. Are you feeling unwell?"

"Not anymore! I was feeling a bit down yesterday but I woke up just fi- AH! I somehow slept through my alarms! I almost thought I wasn't going to make it. But… yes, Iida, I imagined myself being as fast as you and here I was."

Iida briefly inspected her apologetic look before answering back. "I take pride in being useful even when I'm not physically present. However! You mentioned that you were feeling unwell?" He swiftly raised his hand. "You should have gone to the school nurse if that was the case! In the end, they're here for our well-being!"

"It wasn't anything serious; I was just tired so don't worry about it. I woke up late, sure, but I am full of energy. Look!" She threw a couple of punches into the air as she got up from her seat. "Peak performance!"

"You were also quite sharp in those math exercises. I'll believe you then, but don't take too many risks." He adjusted his glass as he also swiftly stood up. "Shall we get some lunch?"

"Yes please, I'm starving. I didn't even have-" Her words were cut off with a brief yelp as somebody covered up her eyes.

"Who am I~?" A cheerful voice prompted her from behind.

"Geez, you scared me Mina!" The Muse escaped her grasp, turning around to face the sudden aggressor.

"Whoa, you're on edge today." A cheeky smile formed on Mina's lips. "Were you expecting someone else or maybe it's something that happened yesterday?"

"Sorry for the intrusion, but my friend here hasn't had anything to eat since she woke up." Iida mentioned, standing up for the Muse.

"Ohh, I'll join! We have to chat about the Christmas party, right? Oh, and Mr. Class Rep! The blackboard hasn't been erased!"

Iida frantically turned around and robotically headed towards the board, abandoning the conversation.

"Now now, tell me anything juicy that happened yesterday. Did you have fun with Deku?" Mina commented, leaning against the glass wall on her right.

"Fun? Well, we did manage to get everything from the list."

"I don't mean that! Look at him, he's been whispering with Bakugou for quite a while now, I didn't even know Blasty could talk that low."

She followed Mina's gaze. Deku and Bakugou seemed to be barely holding up their conversation, but for some ulterior motive they were handling it with just a bit of luck. Whatever they were discussing, it was lost between the chatter of the rest of the classroom.

"They've been like that for quite a few months. Well, normally there are more yells." The Muse mentioned. "What about it?"

"Clearly something happened between you two yesterday, right~?" Mina said while nudging against the Muse's shoulder. "That's why they're all whisper-whisper!"

"It's been a while since we were able to go out, but nothing happened! We just spent time together and..."

She wanted to say that they helped someone along the way, but something prevented her from saying it. She opened her mouth again to no avail. Why couldn't she say it?

The sudden lack of words was caught by Mina's keen eye.

"And…?" Mina muttered, closing the gap between the two of them.

"Nothing else, I swear!" She took a step back, looking around for an escape route. "Iida, are you done yet?!"

Just in time, the class rep appeared beside them ipso facto and herded them towards the exit. Mina made a quick and easy to see lie when he asked her about what they were chatting about.

A voice stopped them as they left the classroom.

The Muse's ears perked up as they picked up a familiar sound. Four syllables, recognizable yet unknown. She clearly understood what they meant but her mind wasn't processing it.

"Uraraka? Are you there?"

She bit the inside of her cheek as she heard the same sound again. That person was calling to her, wasn't he? Yes, of course. Her mind was having trouble understanding the situation, but her head had already sent out an automatic response.

"Oh, Deku. You're not staying with Bakugou?" She spurted out.

"What? I mean, I always eat with you guys so…?" He was caught off guard with her answer, clearly expecting her to already know why he was following them.

"I mean, duh, yeah!" A nervous giggle escaped her lips, as her face flushed with embarrassment and cheer. "You just caught me daydreaming a bit, that's all!"

The rest of the group greeted Midoriya while she felt confused at the sudden spike of emotions inside her. It wasn't love for Deku or the plain happiness of being with her friends. It felt like an accomplishment. The accomplishment of listening to her name felt astonishing. Was she really that glad to hear Deku say her name? It wasn't the first or the last time. So why did she feel like that?

She kept speaking and continuing the flow of the conversation. Iida was gesturing as dramatically as always while Mina argued with him about the Christmas party they were going to throw. Only Deku had caught something out of place with her, but didn't want to push her around for information.

And then there she was, confused at her own random happiness. Confused about waking up late. Confused about the situation with the math exercise. But so far it was just that, confusion. And that confusion hadn't developed into fear.

It had just been a strange day, that's all. Tomorrow she'd be fine, surely.

* * *

His trembling hands slowly put down the body and head of the puppet. He held tight his right hand from trembling, and started to look for a pencil. A few moments after finding it, he grabbed the sketch he had drawn yesterday and stared at it.

How should he write her name? He didn't know the kanji. After a bit of a fuss, he just wrote it in the basic hiragana script, and below it, in Latin script.

Uraraka.

That felt good. His heart felt more in sync with her after today's session. He even got to experience her Muse's social group, or at least part of it. It would be needed if she had to fit into the play.

His eyes slowly made its way towards the unfinished puppet. It was still in its infancy. The light brown color of the wood was not pleasing to the eye. The head had no hair, and besides the colored sclera and iris, there was barely any shine to it. He could focus on structuring the body meanwhile, but getting the puppet proper hair was a priority.

With that in mind, he slowly headed out of his workshop.

It had been only a few hours since he had contacted Rummager, the information seeker. His trembling hands wouldn't allow him to continue with the puppet for a while. So he turned to the left as soon as he stepped out of his room, and headed towards her.

His daughter's bedroom.

Yesterday she was very happy when he told her about his last project, and the amount of progress he had achieved in a day was astounding for someone so rusty.

The creaking wooden floor slightly gave in as the old man traveled towards the bedroom. Humidity had always been a problem in this house. A problem for his wooden statues and furniture. A problem for his health as well. But those were tolerable. It was all for her in the end. He wouldn't forgive himself if his daughter died for his selfishness.

He knocked on the door.

"Are you awake?" A few silent seconds passed before he continued. "Good, I know a lil'bit more about… Sorry, could you repeat that?"

Tanaka bit the inside of his cheek and forced his glare to the ground. "It was just an officer asking if there was trouble, nothing else. And no, I didn't go with him before, I was just checking up on a friend. You know him, the man with long greasy hair."

The low humming sound of wind passing through the small gaps in the wooden ceiling forced the man to slowly shift his weight, leaning against the door.

"I made a promise, remember? No more putting myself in danger, for you." He whispered. "Regardless, this project is going to be a bit troublesome, my hands might get a bit dirty and I will have to pull some strings, but believe me, the stage play will be worth it. This is all because you deserve the best."

The old man smiled after a few more seconds passed. "Of course, she's as perfect as I believed, you'll love her! She's a very cheerful girl, with splendid friends. She also wants to be a hero, just like you. I'm not sure if you'll be able to meet her, but you'll see tiny bits of her, that's for sure. After all, I wouldn't want to spoil the story for you."

"What? Ah, you want to know what inspired me to write the play? I can say as much. Parasitism. Yes, parasites like the Emerald Cockroach Wasp, a wasp that controls cockroaches, lays an egg inside their abdomen and then the larvae feeds on its insides until a matured wasp bursts out. Or the Lancet Liver Fluke, a very interesting parasite that lets ants have a normal life, but every night it's manipulated to leave the nest, bite a blade of grass and wait for a chewing cow to bite."

The old man sighed, released his trembling hand and added a final comment. "But most importantly... You could say it's a commentary on how I've suffered due to other people's greed. A fitting play to end my story as a puppet maker."

"Don't be sad, you knew it was going to happen. But don't worry, before I'm gone I'll make sure you never have to suffer again."

With that, Tanaka headed towards the staircase to prepare dinner. He had abused his quirk too much. Something someone rusty should never do. He had also skipped most of his normal routine, lunches, dinner, breakfasts… He needed to be at his best, and abusing himself wouldn't help.

Tomorrow he'd tell Rummager about the girl's name, and then everything could start rolling.

The set up could finally begin.


	5. False Luck

It had been a couple of days since that odd confusion had started. Her head felt much clearer, she hadn't overslept anymore times and her body overall felt great. No headaches, no dizziness, no weird gaps in memory. Nothing odd to display!

The only headache she was experiencing right now was the math homework due for tomorrow. After dinner, she decided to try and finish the dreaded exercises before going to sleep.

Her bedroom was quiet, with only her table light illuminating the room. Staring with a mental block at the wall of text, she tapped her blue pen on the sheet of paper, as if hoping that the exercises would be completed with a simple touch.

"Okay, maybe if I just… try to look at it from another perspective?" She twisted around the paper, squinted her eyes and tried to squeeze out any knowledge that might be around her head.

After a few seconds of looking, an exasperated sigh escaped her lips. She certainly wasn't getting any better at maths, regardless of her streak of lucky guesses in class. What happened a few days ago was probably a mix of oversleeping and luck. One for the weird writing, another for the answer.

Exhausted, she realised that apart from her desk, the room was dark, her windows barely enough to light it. Following a few refreshing stretches, she turned on the artificial lights of her room and headed to the curtains to close them.

Her gaze drifted along the city lights in the distance. The fourth floor was enough to see them. The night skyline was oddly beautiful, gleaming with yellow and white lights. One of those lights caught her attention, a relatively small and white light that seemed to be flicking on top of one of the buildings. It was soothing but somewhat disconcerting. To be so close to the city yet so far away.

The knocking on her door made her wise up.

"I'm coming!" She closed her curtains and headed towards the entrance.

Uraraka slowly opened the door to receive the sight of her friend Mina, hiding her face behind a notebook.

"Who am I~?" Ashido cooed behind her shoddy cover.

"I can see the rest of your body?" Uraraka mentioned, slightly puzzled.

"That's right, it's me!" She triumphantly emerged from behind the notebook and laughed. "I'm here to ask for help! You've been pretty good with math this week and all that."

The Muse pondered for a moment, quickly remembering that her schoolmate wasn't exactly keen on studies.

"And you're asking me? I was only a bit lucky and… Why don't you ask someone smarter like-" Her words were quickly cut off.

"Yaomomo doesn't have space in her bedroom! Besides, I already asked her too many times beforehand." Ashido admitted. "I only want to be a knowledge leech on exams!"

"Well, okay. I was doing my homework anyways. I don't have another chair though." Uraraka motioned her hand and headed back inside, followed by Mina.

"It's alright, there's a reason why you have a coffee table! Besides, you know, coffee."

Her guest quickly sat down next to the table and opened the notebook with a happy hum. Uraraka joined her not too long after, after resettling her notes and pencil case.

They spend a few minutes just chatting, complaining about studying and subjects.

"Have you finished this one? It's like correlation or something, I didn't have time to copy it." Mina pointed to a lengthy exercise while keeping her eye on Uraraka's notes.

"Let me see… I don't think I've done this one, but it should go like this." She began explaining how to make the statistical table. "I think if you do that well, you just have to follow the formulae. I think so at least, it's been awhile since I had to remember highschool stuff."

"You mean cram school?" Mina asked, almost correcting Uraraka's slip up.

"Uh, yeah. Cram school. Silly mistake!" She awkwardly laughed it off, wondering if it had just a slip of the tongue.

Her friend didn't think much about her mistake as she continued to follow the advice she was given.

"I thought you mentioned that you didn't learn much there. I also had to go to cram school and look how I ended up! But just because I don't study enough, totally."

"I guess my memory is sporadic or something like that." She pulled herself back to her place and looked at the half done exercises. "I'm so bored! I don't wanna do this anymore!"

"Welcome to the club then!" Ashido joined her between laughs. "I can't wait for the winter break, at least we'll be able to hang out outside and do something more fun!"

Uraraka's ears perked up at the sound of freedom.

"Oh that's right, we can't really go outside without supervision. But at least we can hang out around the school grounds." The Muse admitted.

"But it's kinda claustrophobic, don't you think? With all the security and what not. I want to break free! Before what happened at the camp, we could at least go back home and do normal things. Now it's just… blegh!" Mina stuck out her tongue and feigned fainting. "But you went out with Deku a while ago, so…"

"Not this again!" Ochako almost fell on top of her back as she heard Ashido's implication. "You've been all week with that!"

"It's cause you don't want to tell me what happened! I'm sure something interesting went on and you're hiding it!" She begged for an answer while softly grabbing Uraraka's hand.

Her mind raced to find an answer, but the same thought persisted. Do not say anything. It constantly looped on her head, blocking any answer she might have figured up. This mental debate she had every time this question popped up was straining, especially because she had already forgotten what she was supposed to be hiding.

"It's nothing, I was just wondering…"She blurted out without thinking, noticing her right hand trembling for some reason.

"Wondering what? Don't tease me like this, just say it!"

"Wondering who would notice if someone sneaked in on the school, like on the first few days!" She hid the shivering hand below the table before continuing. "You know, maybe they'll use some voodoo magic or something!"

"You're very bad at switching topics, that's a very depressing scenario! They've upped the security since then, remember? With robots and even more heroes patrolling, you know! I'm sure it's basically impossible for them to enter again. And if they do, we'll beat them again!"

"Oh yeah, of course. From our class, who do you think would notice it first?" Uraraka's plain words earned her a perplex stare from Mina.

"You're even worse than I thought at switching topics… again! But I don't know, depends on the situation. Yaomomo would probably notice any foul play, and I'm sure Iida would too. Midori and Baku always seem to go straight into trouble too. I'll add Todoroki to that mix as well!" She leaned against the table, exhausted. "Come on~, just tell me what happened between you two! I won't say anything, I promise!"

Uraraka glanced around the room, trying to find any good answer that might satiate her interest.

"I had… fun. I enjoyed spending time with him. I would like to do it again." The dull tone of voice, mixed with her averted gaze, just fueled Ashido's curiosity.

"You're being honest with your emotions? Oh my god, that's a first! Why am I the only one excited over this?!"

She lunged at Uraraka, hugging her between giggles and celebratory quips. In any other situation, her optimism and excitement would rub off to any other sane person in the planet. But not in this exact moment. Ochako's right hand slowly stopped it's strange tremor, leaving a scar of anxiety and embarrassment that couldn't be explained.

* * *

She woke up once again without any fatigue, way before her alarm activated. It was very early but at least her legs could enjoy not having to run all the way to the main building.

After enjoying the warmth of her bed for a few minutes more, she reactivated her body with a few morning stretches. This only stimulated her appetite for some breakfast.

The dorms were still silent, with rain droplets hitting the windows of the corridors. Nobody else was awake. A perfect time to indulge herself with some early breakfast. Or that's what she was thinking, at least. Secretly she still wanted to find someone and not eat alone.

Reaching the lower floor of the building, the sounds of someone else walking around reached her ears. Perhaps some of the boys in the other dorm had woken up early too. Whatever it was, a yawn made its way out of her body, making her oblivious to the fact that someone was crossing the corner at that instant. Like a hidden instinct taking her over, as soon as she bumped into the unknown student, her arm swung upwards in an uppercut and struck the unlucky student's chin with a powerful palm strike.

The student recoiled, completely unaware of what had transpired for a few moments. Until he covered part of his face and yelled. "What the fuck was that?!"

Uraraka stopped dead on her tracks as Bakugou's glare sent shivers down her spine.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"You just fucking sucker punched me out of nowhere and you expect me to believe that shitty lie?!" He got a hold of the collar of her shirt, bringing her closer to him.

"I swear! It just sorta… happened...!" She had to defuse the situation as soon as possible. "L-Let's go to the nurse, I'll take responsibility. I'm so sorry, I just…"

"I don't care." He scratched the mild pain on his jaw, maintaining the angry stare on Uraraka. "How the hell did you sneak up on me?" He emphasized that last word.

"I, um.. I don't know…I mean… I don't think..." She blabbered ceaselessly, out of confusion and shock.

"Just stop and fucking calm down. I can't understand a single word that's coming out of your stupid mouth. Where the hell did you learn how to hide yourself like that? If you have really done that while being half asleep, you must have trained religiously."

"Um… Gunhea-"

"Don't fucking utter those words. I'm not stupid, you didn't learn that from him." He pressed on again.

"L-Look, you're reading too much into this. It was just luck and instinct. I mean, if I really wanted to hit you, I would have used my quirk, right? That way you'd be a floating punching bag!"His eyebrows furrowed even more. "I'm not really making this any better, am I?"

"You're telling me that you can beat me if you wanted to, huh? Still crying about the sports festival? I didn't think you were one to hold grudges, Uraraka. That just pisses me the fuck off even more." He stepped forward, once again grabbing hold of her collar and ignoring her quirk. "If you want a rematch, just say it to my face. And then I'll kindly kill you even harder, you're not the only one learning new tricks."

This was just a misunderstanding. She wanted to say that. But something held her back from saying it. It was like something covered up her mouth with tape.

"Maybe I just don't like you, have you considered that?" She muttered, confronting his glare. "Now, release me, you brute."

Bakugou snarled, ever so little stunned and her change of tone.

"How about you tell me what you actually want instead of making me waste my time with your moronic acts?" The grip of his hand loosened, pushing Ochako aside with a minor push.

"I don't want anything, I already said it was just a reflex, didn't I?" Goading her opponent, Uraraka fixed her top without much interest.

"Is it your time of the month or have you always had a stick up your ass?" He barked back.

"I said I don't like you, what is there not to understand? It can't be the first time somebody's told you that. I realised like a month ago that I've actually hated you ever since the beginning."

"Like I care." He scoffed proudly at the provocation, twirled around and returned to his path.

The Muse stood silently, a wave of discomfort traveling through her body. Something odd had just happened. Did she actually mean what she said? It was out of place, a pointless taunt. Even if she did, she wouldn't have the guts to directly tell that to his face.

She hugged herself at the realization of her actions. Her bitter words meant nothing at the time, but what if he told everyone? Hopefully Bakugou was not that type of person and nobody else was listening.

Feeling weak, she headed towards one of the many sofas of the lower floor. Contemplating her actions, her eyes noticed something strange again. Her right hand was quivering. Like yesterday, when she said those strange questions. Overall, it wasn't the third time she had been questioning her actions.

This wasn't a strange coincidence or an unlucky happenstance. There was clearly something happening to her. And with all, her right hand seemed to be a key-point. The first time it happened, it was with that math exercise and the weird handwriting she presented. The second time it was with Ashido. And the last time with Bakugou.

Every fiber of her being was saying that she should tell somebody, anybody. This wasn't normal, full stop. Once is Chance, twice is coincidence, third time's a pattern.

She should tell someone.

She should be doing it right about now.

"What was happening here?" Uraraka noticed a somewhat drowsy Iida walking up to her, slightly confused at the sounds he was hearing. "I heard some shouting."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Bakugou just… woke up with the wrong foot today. It's okay." She got up from the sofa and faced her friend. Her heart was beating loudly, fighting against the panic that had started boiling minutes ago.

"I have to tell you something." She continued, trying to force her words to come out. But none came. Instead, a rising urge to puke forced any words to come to a halt.

The adrenaline coursing through her blood made her attempt another go at telling the truth. Cramps suddenly attacked her back and thighs, making her fail yet another doomed try.

Her stomach clenched as the dreadful realisation slowly settled inside her.

She couldn't say anything about it.

"Y-You're still with your bed hair."

Iida pondered for a moment, trying to understand the situation but chose to ignore Uraraka's odd expression.

"Were you trying not to laugh? Indeed I do, even when I wake up in disorder!"

"I… I need some sugar in my blood." Uraraka muttered as her shoulders lost strength, defeated.

"You look a bit pale, yes. Follow me and I shall deliver the goods you desire!"

* * *

The Puppeteer's shaky pulse was tested as he wrote down notes about Uraraka, his muse. Not only that, he added a few more notes about those friends close to her, and the possible troublesome people who might pose a threat if he let down his guard.

From what he gathered, he had at least five possible troublemakers who were smart enough to figure out something odd. However, only the people who are closest to Uraraka would be an actual danger. Iida and Deku.

"I was a bit paranoid with that Bakugou kid, but he seems to be all bark." The Puppeteer laughed, remembering the exchange. "Honestly I'm surprised I still have it in me. The expressions came out a bit stiff, but I'm still warming up."

He stopped and went over his last few paragraphs. All seemed to be in order. He only needed a bit of information on their quirks, but he doubted they'd be much of a threat. After all, he had faced countless opponents, and these were only heroes in training.

"Oh dear, one o'clock."

He hastily wrote down a few more notes and headed down the staircase as quick as he could. His leg was still hurting from kicking his door down. He hadn't even fixed the front door either.

With those thoughts in mind, he headed out of his home. Entering the front yard, he saw his acolyte entering empty handed.

"Good afternoon, Rummager." Tanaka greeted him. "Have you brought me anymore info on her?"

Rummager shifted uncomfortable.

"I… haven't. What I brought you the first day was all I could gather. I can't use my quirk properly at this distance. Besides, she doesn't look out of the window frequently so it's an uphill battle. UA's security would snuff me out if I got any closer."

"It's understandable. I didn't give you the best situation to work around, but what you brought me is enough to pull some strings." He admitted. "But I must remind you, information is essential for my quirk to work properly. The more I know about her, the more precise my movements will be and the less… chance for her to detect anything odd. So far everything seems to be in order."

"Why are you exactly obsessed with this girl?" Rummager mentioned sheepishly. "Back when we, uh, were heroes, you only targeted people who were worth it. Hell, the first time I entered your agency, you were still playing by the rules. But this? I just… feel like a pervert. Even more than usual."

The puppeteer looked at his former student, taking the time to process his question before answering it.

"Have you never read a book and… Have you never watched a TV series and suddenly become infatuated with it? Became the number one fan, recommended it to everyone you knew, followed every tiny marketing move, searched for every little bit of lore you could muster?" Tanaka slowly explained.

"Well, no. I did like the Kamen Riders as a kid though."

"...Then imagine that. But now forget the name of the series. Forget most plot points. Just try your best to find that series, and fail and try and fail again. Spending your whole life searching for it, trying to replace it with different series but never filling that void. And then, years later, you find it again. That's what I'm feeling right now." He finished his exposition with a grin.

"That doesn't answer anything. And it's still creepy." The Puppeteer sighed at his former sidekick's lack of enthusiasm.

"Anyhow, good job. I'm planning on doing something with their security system, the electronic one at least. I need you closer, and I need that girl out of their field of view. I can barely act at the moment."

"That would help, I guess. But how are you going to do that?"

"I'll go talk with one of our previous teammates, Sentinel. If nothing comes out of it, I will sell my soul to the devil again." Tanaka announced. "Or perhaps I should say, the devil's successor."


End file.
